This invention relates to the production of profiles, strips, tapes, plates and the like of a thermoplastic material with fillers which influence the characteristics of the plastic and which are added to the basic thermoplastic before shaping.
German Offenlegungsschrift (Non-examined Published Application) No. 2,228,677 discloses a plastic to which various fillers are added before the plastic is shaped. Examples of the fillers are calcium carbonate, asbestos, clay, kaolin and talcum. A small quantity of glass fibers can also be added to the substance. There is a high filler content of at least 300 and more parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of plastic. The glass fiber percentages, on the other hand, vary between 0.2 and 5 weight percent with reference to the total substance. The plastic substances which use these fillers and additives exhibit excellent processing characteristics and very good physical and mechanical characteristics such as reduced brittleness and improved abrasion resistance.
A plastic material, for example, polyvinyl chloride, enriched in the above-outlined manner can be processed into floor coverings. The drawback of such plastic materials, however, is that other fields of use are not available because of the high filler content.
German Patent No. 3,623,795, to which corresponds U.S. Pat No. 4,826,638, discloses the use of a fraction of hardened particles of an elastomer material as an additive to unhardened elastomer material before the latter is hardened. Particle sizes from 0.1 to 1 mm of hardened particles of an elastomer material can be added in an order of magnitude from 5 to 60 parts per every 100 parts of the unhardened elastomer material. Articles of elastomer material produced from this mixture such as, for example, silicone rubber, have a definitely irregular surface.
It is important in the manufacture of such products that exclusively hardened particles of a hardened elastomer material can be added to the unhardened elastomer material as the starting product. The hardened elastomer particles may be silicone or caoutchouc elastomers. Thermoplastics or other materials, such as polyesters and the like, are excluded from such treatment.
German Offenlegungsschrift (Non-examined Published Application) No. 2,255,033 discloses a method of introducing color pigments into the surface of plastic particles. The color pigments, which have a significantly higher melting point than the plastic particles, are embedded into the surface of the plastic particles as it begins to melt. In a second process step, the substance of the plastic particles is completely melted with the color pigment embedded in its surface, resulting in a completely died-through melt.